The Battle Ground and Woodland school districts cleared a major hurdle last week with the passage of both their district levies. Unofficial results show both districts’ levies passed with more than a majority voting yes.
Battle Ground School District No. 119 Proposition No. 7
As of Friday, Feb. 16, the updated results showed Battle Ground’s capital levy passing with 9,430 votes in favor, or 52.11 percent, and 8,666 votes opposed, or 47.89 percent. The first results published on Feb. 13 showed the levy failing by four votes.
In an interview with The Reflector, Battle Ground School District Superintendent Denny Waters said that the vote count gave him a sense of relief and gratitude for the community.
“We were at 49.99 percent when the first results were released, and we were cautiously optimistic that we would get across the finish line at 50 percent,” Waters said on Thursday. “We are always grateful [when] the community responds the way it did and pushes beyond that 50th percentile because it means that they recognize how important our schools are. I don’t think we should ever take a yes vote for granted.”
Property owners are estimated to pay $0.44 cents per $1,000 of property value annually for three years. Battle Ground Public Schools would receive around $8.5 million in 2025, $9.2 million in 2026 and $10 million in 2027. The district will not collect more than the amount authorized by voters.
The levy will replace the district’s bond, which expired in late 2023. The district tried to pass an extension to the bond in 2016 and 2018, but both efforts failed.
Waters said that the new levy would be crucial for security and infrastructure improvements, as many of the district’s buildings were built between the 1950s and 1970s.
“Those were built in a different time when we didn’t have to worry about the same things that we worry about now in terms of security in a building,” Waters said. “... Back in the day, when our buildings were built, nobody worried about school shootings. It’s understandable that our community has some concerns nowadays, seeing what’s happening all across the country. This levy and our security improvements will help us tighten up a few things.”
Beyond increased security, priorities for the district include district-wide rooftop repairs, improved lighting, fixing air conditioner and heating units, and providing updated technology for classrooms. Projects will depend on costs and the availability of funds and materials, according to the district’s website.
The levy will also support the creation of new classroom spaces that focus on construction trades, culinary education and health sciences. Waters said the spaces will help students compete in future job markets.
“... The three main job areas in our county are construction trades, food service and health services,” Waters said. “... What we were told by our advisory group was that our students were losing out on job opportunities to students from other districts because our students were learning in what you and I would call ‘old home-ec classrooms.’ ”
Prairie High School’s assistant principal Erin Thompson emphasized the levy’s importance providing adequate career training.
“It’s big for our technical programs, which is big for our community here because a lot of our students go right into the field,” she said. “Having industry ready facilities is super important, we’re trying to get our facilities all up to the same standards that we have out in the field.”
More information about the capital levy, including a list of estimated projects for the district, can be found at battlegroundps.org/capital-levy/.
Woodland School District No. 404 Proposition 1
Woodland school district’s levy vote will see the reinstatement of several programs the district cut in 2023.
Woodland School District No. 404 Proposition 1 showed a majority in favor the night of the vote. By Feb. 16, a combined total of Clark and Cowlitz County vote counts showed 2,494 in favor, or 53.18 percent, and 2,196 opposed, or 46.9 percent. Clark County had a difference of 41 votes, with Cowlitz County showing a difference of 257 votes.
Both counties must approve the levy in order for it to pass.
The Woodland School District’s Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) levy would last for three years. Property owners will pay an estimated $2.20 per $1,000 of assessed property value each year. The school district would collect $7,050,000 in 2025, $7,400,000 in 2026, and $7,775,000 in 2027.
Following the previous levy’s expiration in 2023, the district’s Board of Directors cut more than $6 million in programs, services and staff. In the 2023-24 school year, $3 million in educational programs and services were cut, and an additional $3 million was planned for the 2024-25 school year. Cuts included reductions in staff, infrastructure improvements including roof replacements and transportation.
Woodland School District Board President Jeff Wray explained that a major cut for the district was in athletics, including the elimination of district-provided transportation to games and events.
“We ended up cutting middle school sports completely,” Wray explained. “From the high school level, we have an A and B team, but we also had a C team so that anybody could join … Some sports would have multiple C teams because we wanted to give everybody a chance to participate, and so that was also cut as well.”
The district’s previous attempt to pass a levy failed by seven votes in an April special election last year. Wray said that the district should focus on connecting with its community as it works to reimplement programs.
“I remember one of our directors said that there were some students on his team that were part of the C team, and for whatever reason, their parents didn’t vote,” Wray said regarding last year’s rejected levy. “When we had to cut the C team, their student wasn’t able to play, and so it was a personal story he’d tell to remind people to get out there and vote when these things come up because you may not think it impacts your students, but in a way it does one way or another.”
Wray explained that the new levy will be crucial in supporting additional staff. Last year’s layoffs saw the reduction of several positions not supported by state funding according to the board’s president.
“Janitors took a big hit… we had 15 or 16, and then we ended up cutting down well below that, [roughly] eight or nine now,” Wray said. “Nurses, we had three or four of those… now we have one or two that just travel between all of the schools.”
More information about Woodland School District’s EP&O levy can be found at woodlandschools.org/levy.
The Special Election’s final certification will be published on Feb. 23 by Clark County. Updates for the results can be found at clark.wa.gov/elections/results.
